Picking Up.......

 Where We Left Off….

 Frankfort,  MI was a nice port of call.  It offered…..well…..a nice port of call.  Truth be told, we have few specific memories (and almost no photos) of it.   Was it boring? Are these charming little towns too much alike?  Are our memories failing with age?   Let’s move on……

From Frankfort, we moved further south to the port of Ludington, MI.  Once a very active ferry terminal for cross-lake commerce, Ludington is still the home port of SS Badger, the last coal-fired, steam-powered passenger vessel plying US waters.  Watching it approach its landing is a master class in ship handling.  With only a single screw and a bow anchor, her captain spun her 180 degrees in a crowded harbor with brisk crosswind and backed her into her landing like it was child’s play.  Wow.

It had been our plan to cross Lake Michigan from here to Milwaukee, a course that offers the shortest run (83 miles) across the lake.   We had marina reservations lined up that would take us to Chicago for a visit from some Spokane friends and then back to Racine, WI for Labor Day with  McLaughlin cousins.  

But………

Lake Michigan’s weather makes its own decisions, and the prognosticators would not offer a  decent weather window for an open-water run.  Call us cautious, but the east and west side of the lake have distinct weather patterns and once you begin to cross there is no “bail out” option if conditions deteriorate.  Without a good forecast all the way across, we chose not to chance it.   So, once again, Commadore Kathleen got out her cruising guides, charts, and phone and re-set our itinerary to keep us heading south on the Michigan side of the Lake. 

South from Ludington, we made our way to Muskegon, MI.  Wade had a special desire to see Muskegon.  Yes, really.   Here there is the LST 393 museum.   LST 393 is a WWII Landing Ship, Tank of the same design and vintage as the ship (LST 779) on which Wade’s father served during the final two years of the War on the Pacific.  

These 310-foot vessels were designed to land infantry and vehicles on a hostile beach.   To accomplish this task, they were given unique design characteristics (flat bottom, shallow draft, shrouded props) that also made them less suited for open water.  This, combined with a maximum speed of maybe 11 knots, earned them the moniker Large Slow Target.   But they made the invasions of Europe and the Pacific Islands possible and were considered pivotal in the Allied victories over Germany and Japan.   It was fascinating to wander inside the ship and image how it was for 21-year-old Ensign (later Lt. jg) Griffith and his shipmates.

Our stay in Muskegon got extended by a storm front 

 that roared thru but also afforded time for Commadore Kathleen to visit a hair salon and to lounge by the marina pool in between weather events.

The next stop in our revised itinerary was Grand Haven, MI, a seasonal resort community on the Grand River.  Here we were to meet Spokane friends Mark and Adrienne Parcher, who graciously shifted their rendezvous from Chicago when we were forced to forego the western side of Lake Michigan.

But,

Our chosen marina near downtown Grand Haven was unavailable for our first night, so we docked Irish Lass at North Shore marine across the river.   With Admiral Maggie’s assistance, we made the acquaintance of a group of local boaters who gathered at a self-built dock pavilion and enjoyed a pleasant evening.

Our plan the next morning (Sunday)  was to move across to the Municipal Marina before our guests arrived.  But the Irish Lass had other ideas.   Regular readers will recall that our starboard starter has been “reluctant for some time.  And that we acquired a replacement back in 2020 against the need to replace it.  But it is EXTREMELY difficult to access and we had hoped that, as long as it was responsive to love taps with a hammer, we could wait until we put the Lass in winter layup to address it. 

Well, so much for hope as a strategy.  The starboard starter stubbornly refused to respond.  Not to love taps, not to friendly nudges, not to pleas, not to angry curses.   While Wade continued to “negotiate” in the engine room, Commadore Kathleen asked our new dock friends for advice.  They recommended we stay put, as North Shore Marine should be able to help us.   They even texted the manager and the service manager to alert them to our plight.

On Monday morning, Wade walked across the marina to speak with Scott, the service manager, expecting the “we’re-booked-out-three-weeks worst”.  Instead, Scott was apologetic that he could not free up a mechanic until after lunch.  After lunch as in TODAY!  OMG! Can I get a HALLELUJAH!?

Within two hours, technician Tom was aboard to assess the task.   As his physique was, shall we say, inconsistent with the service clearances provided, he recruited young, lanky, flexible, strong, technician John to do the dirty work under Tom’s supervision.  They quickly determined that the tight fit required some reduced-size tolls and made a couple of trips to the shop to make modifications.By mid-afternoon, the swap was made and about 4:00 PM we had a successful test start.  By 4:30, we had a couple of dozen.  Can I get TWO HALLELUJAHS!!?

Mark and Adrienne arrived in the midst of this and graciously accommodated the unplanned activity.  Using their CAR (Oooooo 😊) we were able to explore Grand Haven a bit, including a nice dinner at a wonderful beach-front club.  The parking lot was full and there were folks waiting but half the tables were empty.  We cut the line by agreeing to eat in the bar, where the owner told us he was short 10 staff and had to keep 1/3 of his tables empty in order to be able to maintain service standards.  A sad sign of the times.  Sheesh.

With renewed ease of starting, we headed out on Wednesday for the port of St. Joseph, MI where we found a home at the West Basin  Marina.   There we encountered Loopers Quite Nice and Sea-Batical ( pair of DeFever49 trawlers) and enjoyed a Docktail gathering.  It tuned out we were all headed for Hammond, IN the next day.  The weather forecast was a little ambiguous, and as the faster vessel, we agreed to lead the charge south and then west and to keep the others informed on conditions.

Departing St Joseph at first light, we turned first south the Michigan City. (Located in  Indiana, interestingly enough, this seems another example of that state’s well-earned inferiority complex, forced to name this place for the superior state next door.  Sheesh.)    With weather conditions in our favor, we gave Quite Nice and Sea-Batical the all-clear and turned west toward Hammond and the eponymous marina that would be our home for over two weeks.  Why you may ask?  Just stay tuned and see!

Thanks for following.
Be sure to follow us on NEBO.

Now WE’RE Way Behind

 

Sheesh!

We apologize to our faithful readers for the LLLLOOONNNGGGG break between updates to this blog.  We are still out here and there has been a LOT going on.  We have just been too busy with other matters to sit down and write.  So, please bear with us as we try to get caught up. (Warning:  This may take several posts. )

 

The BIG Lake

Leaving the whole “How do you pronounce Mackinac” question in our wake, we headed west toward Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan.  Called by some America’s Emerald Isle, Beaver boats one village and Harbor (St James) and acres of fields and woodlands.  Our voyage was one of those rare, calm days where you set a course, turn on the autohelm, and make no adjustments for 50+ miles.  

An ancestral land to the Odawa tribe, Beaver’s first white settlers were trappers, fishermen, and Catholic missionaries.  These were followed by a splinter group of Mormons called Strangites, after their leader James Jesse Strang.   Strang split from the early church when it failed to recognize him as the true successor to Joseph Smith.  In 1846, when the larger Mormon group under Bingham Young began their epic migration to Utah, Strang attempted to establish a Mormon theocracy encompassing Beaver and some other Lake Michigan islands.  He had some early success, using a cannon to overcome the objections of island locals and anointing himself as King.  He and his followers set up a printing operation and establishing two of northern Michigan’s early newspapers.  Sadly (or not) he was “promoted to heaven” by two disgruntled followers one night in 1856.  Shortly thereafter, some civic-minded “gentiles” from Mackinac Island (pronounced “Mack-in-aw”) ran his remaining followers out of town.  The void was filled by a colony of Irish immigrant fishermen, many of whose decedents are part of the island’s 600 year-round population.  

Until recently, Beaver Island was a low-key, well-kept secret for those lucky enough to acquire summer cottages there, but, like so many special places, it is now being “discovered”.   We did try The Shamrock for dinner with Looper friends from Orion and Seeker but found its Irish veneer to be pretty thin, with the interior and menu more akin to a U.P. hunting lodge than a Dublin pub.  Curiously, the local historical society/chamber of commerce has named its beaver mascot Pierre.  Given the place’s history, wouldn’t Ephraim or Shamus be more appropriate?

From Beaver Island we sailed SE back toward the Michigan (eastern) shore of the lake, bound for the town of Harbor Springs on the north shore of Little Traverse Bay.   (This is the finger side of the Michigan Mitten.)   Frankly, Harbor Springs was a second choice when there was no marina or anchorage space available in Petoskey on the south shore.  But it proved to be a happy second choice as Harbor Springs proved to be a delightful, somewhat upscale town with a lively waterfront and business district and neighborhoods full of large, lovely homes (cottages?).   Plus, it has a dog beach! (Admiral Maggie says, “YAY!”). The kind of town we could see ourselves living in.   Wish we could have spent more time.

Reluctantly leaving our snug mooring at Harbor Springs, we made our way across Little Traverse Bay and south along the Michigan shore to Grand Traverse Bay and the charming little village of Northport.  We found moorage on the wall at the municipal marina with a few other loopers, including our friends on Adventure Awaits.  Northport proved to be another charming Michigan port and we enjoyed a Friday night open-air concert in the adjacent park.   On Saturday, we were visited by ex-Spokane friends Glenn and Nancy Teal, who now reside in the Grand Rapids area.   They whispered those seductive words, “We have a car….” and took us on a little road trip that included a visit to The Cherry Republic in the charming village of Glen Arbor and lunch in the Fishtown neighborhood of the equally charming village of Leland.  (Notice the pattern with these Michigan villages?  They are, in fact, ALL charming. What’s not to like? Michigan is ACES with us.)

They also took us to see the Sleeping Bear Dunes, one of many collections of sandhills that line most of Lake Michigan’s western shore.  It seems a couple of million years ago, this part of the world was covered with glaciers.  And as they inched along, they ground whatever was in their way into massive deposits of sand.   The glaciers receded, filling the Lake and leaving the sand exposed to predominant west winds.  Years of wind and water heaped up the sand into dunes ranging from a few feet to huge, forest-covered hills now dotted with “cottages”.   We visited an observation point at the top of the Sleeping Bear Dunes to see folks gleefully sliding down hundreds of feet to the beach below, despite a Park Service sign offering rescues for those unable to climb back up at a rate of $3,000 per person.   (We elected to take the high road (so to speak) and walk back to the parking lot.)

On Sunday morning, we battled  20+ kt winds out of northwest and 4-6 foot waves on the bow to get out of Grand Traverse Bay and around Lighthouse Point to turn south for our next port of Frankfort, MI.  This was our roughest passage to date and we seriously considered turning around.  But things smoothed out a little once we made the turn and we had the winds behind us.   Whew!   We were very happy to see the breakwater at the entrance to Betsie Lake and our dock for the night at Jacobson Marina. 

From Frankfort, we………Oh, My!,,,,,,, would you LOOK at the time………the next stop will have to wait until next time.  Stay tuned!

 

Thanks for following.

 

Be sure to follow us on NEBO.